User blog:Slush the Mudwing/Halitus Rubrum
Well. I've entered the Animal contest! My animal's scientific name is the Halitus Rubrum! Or more commonly known as the Red Breath! This amphibian is a bright ruby red color that keeps predators away. It's 4 inches long and has four short, stubby legs with webs in between it's claws. It has a long and narrow snout and with razor sharp teeth. So, it's basically a miniature amphibian crocodile! Well, not really.... The Red Breath, as mentioned before, is bright red! It's underbelly is a dark mud brown and it has bright emerald green eyes with a black slit down the middle. Every color about this creature screams "Poison!", when, however, it does not have poison, but venom. One bite from this animal can be lethal if not treated within seven days. However, the antidote is very simple. Crushed eucalyptus leaves mixed with water! Simply pour the eucalyptus water onto the wound and all the venom should desperse within a couple of hours! Unfortunately, there are no eucalyptus trees near it's habitat.... The Red Breath lives in a rainforest or tropical terrain with some sort of water source near by. They usually live around ponds where they can soak in the mud and go for a swim. It likes ponds because of how small this water source is. Red Breaths usually like to have the whole pond to themselves an the many other of it's kind that it lives with. Another addition to the pond is that there has to be red hibiscus flowers growing near. It loves to get wet and swish around in the mud. The Red Breath will lay down on it's back in the mud where it's brown belly will be face up, so it blends in pretty well. Laying down in the mud is usually how they clean their amphibian-ish skin(or whtever it's called). They also like to sun-bathe on the hibiscus flowers. Their red skin blends in easily with the red of the flower, and their light weight of around an ounce(if not that, then most likely less than) allows them to sit on a flower petal without falling off. The red breath has a variety of foods that it eats. During it's sun-bathing, the Red Breath eats the bugs that are attracted to the red hibiscus' scent. Strangely, this creature will also eat the pollen that the hibiscus has. And finally, the red Breath will eat small fish that it can manage to catch from inside the pond. This animal usually lives for 5 to 6 years. They hatch from an egg (not as a tadpole) looking as described earlier. They reach maturity at the age of 2 and usually mate at the age of 3. Mating season is year-round. A mother Red Breath lays her eggs at the bank of the pond, and once they hatch, she raises the young until they reach maturity which is when she will usually die. The females tend to live for 5 years and the males for 6. The female's sole purpose is to mate, lay eggs, raise the young, then die. During mating season, the female will lay her eggs at the age of three. They usually hatch in a week. She raises them until they reach the age of maturity, then she dies. The male has a much different life. He also reaches maturity at the age of two and mates at the age of three. Then he helps raise the young until the female dies wich is when he devotes the other year of his life to fighting the other 5-year-old males. Winning shows a sign of surperiority, then they die at 6 years. The Female is usually smaller thn the male, but only by around a half an inch. The female's are also much skinnier. And now is the moment you've all been waiting for! Why is the Red Breath called the Red Breath? The Red Breath is called this because it will sometimes exhale in a red color. This only happens when they are making their call(usually for mating). It's a high pitched whistling sound that almost sounds like a bird's tweet except it's more wet sounding. So, it's sort of like a whistle mixed with the sound of a drop of water hitting some more water. When they make this sound, a red fog comes out their mouth in a mushroom cloud. It's almost as though they're breathing fire, but... not... really.... Anyways! I hoped you enjoyed reading about my creature! The reason I came up with this is because I love the color red, love geckos/lizards/salamanders, and love bright green eyes! Welp, thanks for reading! (Took me a few hours to write...) Category:Blog posts